The Past, Present, and Future are all One
Past, present, and future exist at the same time – and the positivity inherent in that is amazing.
It’s taken me a long time to come to grips with this truth. But time, as we perceive it, is an utter and total illusion.
The late, great, Albert Einstein had some definitive thoughts on this matter.
“The only reason for time is so that everything doesn’t happen at once.”
Yes, there is a progression of the passage of time in the right-now, at this moment sense of it. The sun rises and sets. The seasons change. But all other measures of time are a construct of our own devising.
No other animals on the planet have this sort of time perception. Day, night, seasons, that’s about it. Simple, existing.
We can create incredible tools no other animal on this planet can. As such, humans have the power to build reality howsoever we desire for it to be.
If this wasn’t the truth – you wouldn’t be reading these words. The mobile computers we carry with us everywhere we go wouldn’t be here (and weren’t just 30 years ago or so). The service economy in which the majority of us live would not be the dominant model.
The point is that past, present, and future are one – what you had, have, and desire are one as well.
Having tangibles and intangibles here-and-now
Everybody desires things both tangible and intangible. Money, love, people, connections, etc. Even the most introverted people have desires for things material and immaterial that they want.
These desires fall into other categories, such as necessities versus extras. These can also be broken down between necessities, modern necessities, extras, and extravagances.
Let’s start with the tangibles. For example, food, clothing, and shelter are necessities. Nowadays, mobile phones, internet connections, cars, and the like are modern necessities.
Extras include things like art, designer clothes, enormous TVs, and pets. Nice to have – and they may improve your overall life experience – but not wholly necessary.
Then you hit extravagances. Boats, vacation homes, the best of the best of everything you buy, and enough money to practically buy and sell other people. Things you can do without – but it’s still nice to have.
The necessities are required to be able to exist here-and-now. They’re simply necessary for life. The extras and extravagances, on the other hand, tend to get tied into the intangibles.
Things, we think, will make us feel good. So, when you have the oversized TV, the boat, and gorgeous art decorating your home – you believe it will make you feel joy and other positive emotions.
Ironically, it’s mostly the other way around. You feel the joy first, and then the thing – the tangible – gives it more emphasis and an expression of manifestation.
Oftentimes, we place things we desire into then, now, and later. But this can keep you from growth and development because it ignores the reality of time.
People get so focused on the past and rose-colored recollection of its greatness – or the future, and possibilities not yet developed or realized – that the here-and-now is neglected, and you get stuck like a car in neutral – and go nowhere.
Past, present, and future together
Again, when it comes to time, Albert Einstein had tremendous insights.
“The distinction between the past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”
The idea of conservativism is to keep things how they have “always” been. Preserve the happier, better time of yesterday. Keep change to a very slow, glacial pace or as minimized as possible.
This, however, tends to work counter to reality.
Change is inevitable. You can’t stop, avoid it, or exist without it. EVERYTHING changes because change is the one and only constant in the Universe. That’s why you are not a two-foot-tall toddler in your 20s. You grew and changed. And it didn’t stop there – it is a constant.
Hence, why the things you may have desired for your life in your 20s are not what you desire in your 30s, 40s, and so on. Because change is constant – you change with it.
So – what’s this got to do with past, present, and future? If you are not content with your life as it is – you have the power in the present to change it.
This requires, in part, a shift of focus. Rather than looking back to what was or ahead to what may be – you can be present in the now and make what IS what you desire.
How? Consciousness creates reality. By learning lessons from past experiences, you know what you’ve had. Often, we turn our focus forward to the future to what may be – but ignore our present selves. You desire something but see it ahead of you.
But as now is the only true time that is, there needs to be some reconciling of this.
Reconciling time and desire
To some degree, it’s important to have goals to be reached. But if you see them as always ahead of you – they tend to remain out of reach. To make them more attainable you need to see them in the present.
Because they are. Past, present, and future are all one.
As Einstein said, time exists so that you can measure and experience it. That’s how you grow, and evolve, and learn. But the reality is that everything that was, is, as is everything that will be.
Yes, this can be super-distressing if you allow it to overwhelm you. But it can also be uber-positive and exciting. Why? Because it means that whatever it is you desire to create or have – you can.
Let’s not get completely carried away – we need to consider several things. What you TRULY desire is often much more realistic than you think. For example, I would like to be wealthy. BUT – and this is where this gets important – wealth is a relative measure.
I do not need to have the level of income of Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates. Billionaire is not my true goal for being wealthy. Wealthy, in my definition, is enough money to pay all my bills on time and in full, have no outstanding payments for things like cars and mortgages, and buy gifts for the people I love and donate to causes I believe in.
Desiring to be a billionaire is not my real goal. The desire to be wealthy is – particularly based on the above definition. All too often we think what we want are the big, hard-to-measure things. But really – it tends to be much more based in reality, the now, and possibility than that.
Positivity of the past, present, and future as one
This is a matter of positivity because it empowers you to consciously create with more drive and more understanding of what is possible.
It’s important to see the past as lessons and experiences that shaped you into who you are today. The future matters for goals, tangibles, and intangibles that are not currently part of your reality. But only in the now do you truly exist. Only here and now is time real.
Hence, you have the power to make this life something amazing if it’s not already. You are worthy and deserving of attaining what is possible and reaching your potential.
Where you were before, in the past, helped you shape who you are now, and seeing the future tells you how to direct your energies now. That means you can do anything you realistically desire to do. And that, ultimately, is positive.
The world needs all the positivity it can get right now. Change your focus to positivity and you put more of that out there for others as well.
Go out there and be awesome and amazing.
Seeing the past, present, and future as one isn’t hard
But it requires mindfulness of your thoughts, feelings, actions, and intent.
Knowing that time is an illusion and more within your control than the other way around – you can work to consciously create the reality in which you most desire to exist. When you work with conscious reality creation to manifest the life and things – tangible or intangible – that you desire, that ultimately empowers you.
When you feel empowered, your mindfulness increases, you become more aware overall, and that can spread to people around you. This creates a feedback loop of awareness and positivity.
You build more positive feelings and discover further reasons to feel positivity and gratitude. That can be the impetus to improve numerous aspects of your life for the better, help overcome the overwhelming negativity of any current situation, and generate yet more positivity and gratitude.
An attitude of gratitude is an attitude of immense positivity. That positivity can generate even more good energies – and that, like you, is always worthwhile. You are worthy and deserving of all the good you desire.
This is the three-hundred and fifty-eighth entry of my Positivity series. It is my hope these weekly messages might help spread positive energies for everyone. Feel free to share, re-blog, and spread the positivity.
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